EMEA Prime Industrial and Logistics Rental Growth Universally Flat

London, 27 September 2011 - A significant proportion of the centres monitored by Colliers International for their biannual EMEA Industrial and Logistics Rent Map reported no change in prime warehouse rents over the first half of 2011. A lack of prime stock and a limited development pipeline are keeping rents stable in most markets despite soft demand due to corporate nervousness over the macroeconomic outlook for the region. The top performing market was Moscow, which reported strong rental growth of around 17% in the first six months. The vacancy rate for prime warehouses fell to almost 2%, driving strong rental performance in the capital which is expected to continue over the next 12 months at least. Notable poor performers were Dublin and Zagreb, reporting falls in achievable rents of -25% and -17% respectively.

On larger bulk properties the story was much the same. Prime rents remained broadly stable across most monitored centres. Moscow was again the standout market, reporting prime rental growth of around 14%, followed by Warsaw, with rental growth of around 11%.

Yields across the region were biased towards an overall compression. Most markets reported no notable changes in yields over the period. However, some high yielding markets did report strong yield compression including Riga, -125bps to 10%, St Petersburg, -100bps to 13% and Vilnius, -100bps to 10%.

Over the next 12 months, prime rents, warehouse and bulk, are set to remain fairly steady. Markets such as Durban, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Warsaw are expected to see rents increase across both the warehouse and bulk segments. In contrast, Copenhagen, Dublin, Lisbon and Vienna are forecast to see prime rents fall across both segments during the same period. Investment yields are broadly expected to remain unchanged; however, notable centres where we expect to see some compression are Amsterdam, Cape Town, Frankfurt, Madrid and Prague.

The Colliers International EMEA Industrial and Logistics Rents Map includes prime industrial and logistics rents and yields in the major markets across the region.